


Lips and Stones

by TheMamaFox



Series: Home is where the Heart is [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4441664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMamaFox/pseuds/TheMamaFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen POV of battlements kissing and Cole being Cole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lips and Stones

**Author's Note:**

> I reject your dialog and substitute my own! I refuse to accept Cullen's "I hadn't considered" dialog when asked about how he felt of her being Dalish.

He felt her presence before he saw her. Cullen looked up from his desk and found her waiting in the open doorway. She gave him a small smile. 

“Commander Cullen, I was hoping we could talk. Alone?”

His heart leapt to his throat. 

“Alone? I mean, of course.”

He lead her out to the battlements overlooking the lower camp. It would be relatively quiet there and far enough from his office they shouldn’t be bothered. The wind whipped at her hair and his fur pauldrons, warmer than it had been in the previous days. 

His stomach turned in knots and he knew of his nervous habit of rubbing his neck but couldn’t help himself. What would she say? She must know his affections and he had thought she returned them. Was she here to let him down gently? Of course. The Inquisition was more important and he steeled himself for the rejection of what he could not ask for. 

“Ah. There was something you wished to discuss.”  

“Yes. Cullen. I care for you and...” She sighed and gazed out over the mountains. 

_Oh Maker._

“What’s wrong?”

“I am Dalish mage. You were a Templar. We are from two different worlds. Can this work? Can we work?” She turned to face him, large copper eyes forlorn.  

His heart rose and shattered in the same instance. He had watched her move through Skyhold and recognized how she held herself apart. She was Inquisitor and it was expected but he sensed it went deeper than that. With every letter they received from her clan her eyes showed how much she missed them. He watched her easy friendship with the Dalish elf with Iron Bull’s men and saw her faltering attempt to fit in with the rest of the Inquisition. He didn’t wholly understand what being Dalish meant to her but he desperately wanted to find out.    
  
“I can’t say I haven’t wondered what it would be like.” He swallowed, trying not to stumble over his words. 

“And what do you think of it?” Her eyes were bright with hope and his heart did the stumbling. 

“You’re the Inquisitor. We’re at war. And you... I didn’t think it was possible.” 

It had been so long he had wished to do something only for himself. Not the Templars, not the Inquisition. He was at war with himself in what he knew was appropriate and what kissing her now would mean. 

“Yet, here I am.” She was offering this and letting him have his choice. He made it easily. 

“So you are...” He stepped closer and she accepted his unspoken answer. Lavellan was soft under his hands and it felt right. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her now. “It seems too much ask.... but I want to...” 

A voice from behind him. “Commander.”

 _You’ve **got** to be joking._ 

“You wanted a copy of Sister Leliana’s report.”

 _How did he even find me here?_ He turned to the offending scout. _“_ **What?** _”_

“Sister Leliana’s report. You wanted it delivered without delay.”

_I swear to the Maker that if he doesn’t turn around and leave immediately...._

He didn’t trust his voice so instead he glared.

“....Or... to your office... right.” Jim retreated, looking properly terrified.

_Good man._

“Cullen, if you need to...” 

Too close, too far to let her go. He immediately turned and kissed her fiercely, swallowing her surprised gasp. She filled his mind. The smell of herbs and the lithe weight of her, her long hair tangled in his fingers. She kissed him back with the same fervor. He craved this more than he craved the lyrium and he drank it all in. Pinning her against the stones and not caring who sees. He was not the Commander of the Inquisition here, just a man with a woman in his arms and it felt glorious. 

_Sweet Maker. I don’t deserve this._

* * *

Cullen couldn’t concentrate. He knew he would not get any more work done today but stubbornly stared at the papers on his desk nonetheless. His duty required him here yet duty could not halt his thoughts of her. He had kissed her the way he had wanted to since that moment he found her in the snow after Haven was buried. They were breathless and uncaring when a runner found them, Cassandra was requesting to speak to her.  _Damn that Seeker._

“Lips hot and stones cold.” Startled from his musing, he was standing and sword in hand before he recognized the voice of Cole and found the boy sitting at the top of the ladder to his quarters. 

“Maker’s breath, Cole. Don’t....”

“Desired and distressed. Wanting and worrying.  She cares so much it hurts. Hands on her face, rough from holding a sword yet soft when holding her. His mouth urgent and claiming. Tears prick in her eyes. Does he know? Does he see? Lost loneliness for a proud people and here is a man who feels like home does. She is afraid of what that means.”

“Is that...?”

Cole vanished without an answer and Cullen was alone once more. He took a deep breath and sheathed his sword. In the next breath he was out the door and searching for Lavellan. Reports be damned. 


End file.
